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Project Second Cities has gone through to its second half
The Second Cities project has gone through to its second half. Ula Tarasiewicz, the photographer from Poland, has finished her activity in Košice mainly engaged in shooting compelling interiors and architecture of the old communist times. She was later replaced by Evžen Sobek from Brno who is likely to be spot by night searching for the sites he finds attractive to take his shots at. He particularly picks the moments when the evening is melting into the night. Another participant to the project now staying in the city is Daniel Hermes from Graz, Austria. He mostly takes interest in the city centre getting about and caring for how the people in Košice spend their leisure time. The last participant is from the city of Kaunas in Lithuania. His name is Mindaugas Kavaliauskas and he is interested in photographing life as it goes inside our homes. The routine of the project includes periodical viewing of the photographs which are also pre-press edited and consultations on the schedules for the days to come. We expect the citizens of Košice to get to know the outcomes of this workshop-like project soon when having their public projection in Hlavná Street.
Press release – Slovak-French project Something is Red going for a premiere in Lyon after succeeding in Košice
Press release – Slovak-French project Something is Red going for a premiere in Lyon after succeeding in KošiceThe experimental theatrical performance called ´Something is Red´, which had its premiere on April 29 in Košice, is to be given this weekend, July 5-6, to the French audience in Lyon. The project sprang from the cooperation of the French theatre Lá Hors De from Lyon and the Košice theatre known as Divadlo na peróne and became a supporting event of the application of Košice for nomination as European capital of Culture 2013. The premiere of Something is Red in the Košice Barracks/Kulturpark was watched by several hundreds of people in the audience. The performance was being born for almost two months right in the premises of the Barracks/Kulturpark. The actors from Košice left for France on June 23 to practise their performancia with a new stage set. “The time we had before the French premiere was used to adjust the project to the new stage and to cope with a bit altered cast. It was a sort of start anew, although we were already prepared to do it and we had some idea what we were going to do better,” revealed Zuzana Psotková of the theatre Divadlo na peróne about how it felt after almost two weeks of preparation in France. Zuzana will appear in Lyon along with her fellow-actors Peter Kočiš, Jana Wernerová and Alexandra Kupčíková who are to return to Košice on July 8.The Something is Red project originated from the conversations with the people picked up at random in the streets of France, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. They would tell their own versions of the fairy-tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Alike Košice, Lyon where the group Lá Hors De is from, also applies for nomination as European Capital of Culture 2013. The Something is Red project was co-organised by the artistic group Lá Hors De, the theatre Divadlo na peróne, the citizen´s association IC Culture Train from Košice, the non-profit organisation French Alliance, and the ECOC Košice 2013 project team. Lá Hors De This artistic group was founded in 1992 by the stage director Nathalie Veuillet and the composer Wilfrid Haberey. The group targets the renewal and use of various urban places, either enclosed or open, which have stopped to serve their purpose. The group has for three years organised a festival at the abandoned ship´s hangar facilities, they have given an acoustic show at the parking lot of the lower dockside in Vaise and performances in one of the French cloisters and in the cellars of the Bondy palace, and others. In 2005, Là Hors De got inspired by the idea of some public institutions and settled down in the Duchère district in Lyon to launch a project known as Sputnik – an artistic cross-sector project carried out in different geographical areas with different participants. This is a crucial development project for the district of Duchère in Lyon referred to as GPV, i.e. Le Grand projet de ville (Great City Project). Find more at www.lahorsde.com Divadlo na peróne This theatre was founded in 2005 as an independent theatre scene. The theatre is based at the centre of contemporary arts known as IC Culture Train in Košice. The idea to found a theatre came up as a logical move in the creation of the theatre founders and members, namely Peter Kočiš, Zuzana Psotková and Jana Wernerová. The theatre is aimed at composite author´s works and aspires to attract young generation through the content and form they employ. www.naperone.sk Find more about ´Something is Red´ athttp://kosice13.subory.com/interfacenews/InterfaceNews_email_april.pdfhttp://kosice13.subory.com/interfacenews/InterfaceNews_email_maj_low.pdf Zuzana Lehotská,Communication with Mass Media, Project Team of European Capital of Culture Košice 2013zuzana.lehotska@kosice13.sk
Zora Jaurová: I even support the women’s basketball team from Košice
Theatre dramaturgist, reviewer and translator, director of the national office of the European grant programme Culture (2007–2013) – Cultural Contact Point in Bratislava. This black-haired lady of action whose Bratislava accent cannot be overlooked, Zora Jaurová (35) has now extended her rich professional CV by adding the cooperation with the Košice application project for nomination as the European Capital of Culture (ECOC) 2013.The cities taking part in the ECOC competitions usually expect positive benefits for the city and its region. Are there any pitfalls about the application and the follow-on holding of the title?The biggest pitfall occurs when the project is not successfully put into practice, when it stops at the halfway mark, fails to meet the goals and becomes a negative example. Since the European Capital City of Culture programme receives rather great attention in Europe, it’s quite well spread which cities succeeded and which failed. So all this is about a big chance as well as about a big risk. Another uncertain question is the financial support for the project. In respect of such long-time process of the project implementation things may get changed: this includes the political representation, even priorities and directions, which may have a negative impact on the project. That’s why it is necessary to have the financial limits set in advance and the management working very precisely.In view of a long-term perspective and the overall impact of such project, the factor which seems the most crucial for the project is its sustainability, i.e. what the project leaves, how it changes the life and development of the city, its atmosphere and image. The project should not only be a year festival of cultural events, but it should start off a long-run process of cultivation of the city. This means investment into human resources, infrastructure and civil initiatives. Without such a framework we can hardly make the project become property of the citizens of the city and its region and to keep on developing.What is better: globalise culture or persist on purity of traditions?I don´t find the two things opposites. Definitely, investment into preservation of cultural heritage is important, and this should cover both tangible legacy (cultural landmarks, historic buildings, museum expositions), and intangible legacy (traditions, folklore, and others). To succeed in the global world we must know where we come from and be aware of our individual input to the global market. On the other hand, world globalisation, and, consequently, culture globalisation, is a fact which we must accept and the character of our culture and our cultural production need to adjust to this fact. Artists today use new technologies, establish cooperation and networks over continents and their output is completely different works than those made tens of years ago. This, however, demands a lot from the cultural institutions, which should be adjusting to this process. Unfortunately, most of the cultural infrastructure in Slovakia is deeply stuck in the 20th century, even in the history much longer ago. The goals of the project Košice – Interface 2013 also include a delivery of some example solutions to this particular issue.Why did the Košice project succeed, even received one of the best evaluations?I think the reason for this success lies in the attitude of the project to the culture and its context, which proceeds from very modern and European basis. The project seeks to deliver progressive impulses, and its view of culture in the city spans over broad context. The situation of the cultural policy in Slovakia is for long time very much joyless, and it is not easy to shake off this demoralising set of limitations. The Košice project is brave enough to call the problems their own names and offer solutions of European quality. Driven by innovations they are interesting in an international context as well. What are the most frequent mistakes the applicants for nomination as ECOC make?The projects, which turned out not very successful, mostly underestimated the role of a complex cultural development in the city and its sustainability. They either construed the programme as a chance for investment and structural development of the city and region, while they forgot the main part is to be played by the culture. Or the other way round, they would make a programme of a year festival full of events, which failed to find audience, and left nothing behind. PR and marketing strategy are definitely important and must be of pan-European character.How can we measure quality of culture? Is it the size of audience, number of visitors or sold records?I think the criterion mainly refers to the potential to change, cultivate the audience and society. Inspiring people to get engaged in creative transformation of their environment. Obviously, it is hard to set tough criteria in the area where results may show in the long run and by very subtle innovations. At the present, creativity, however, is about to be part of the most significant potential of the 21st century economy. In such a process, culture and cultural production do have their indispensable place.You are not from Košice, yet you are working very closely on the Košice project.Why?No, I am not from Košice, I am even what is called a bighead from Bratislava… I’m joking now. But seriously speaking, when it came to the negotiations at the Council of EU over the new conditions for this competition I was representing Slovakia. From the very beginning Košice seemed to me the perfect candidate from Slovakia. It is the second largest city, has sufficient infrastructure to carry out the project, and it often remains under the shadow of the capital. The project might contribute to the raising of cultural profile and development of the city. When I was later approached by Marek Kolarčík who offered me to cooperate with their project I did have some good reasons to think about his offer as I had known him for his successful career as the founder of the House of Slovak Regions in Brussels and because I found him an excellent manager who was deeply familiar with the business. Finally, I got completely convinced after I was shown the basic framework of the project and the attitude of the project team to the project conception. And we may just guess that if this project is ultimately put into practice within the scope of its basic lines, it will certainly become something extraordinary, not only in terms of Slovakia, but also in the European context. For all that I very much appreciate it that I can participate in the Košice project. Although being deeply rooted in Bratislava, I am now beginning to have this strong feel of local patriotism, which are so familiar to Košice. I even support the women’s basketball team from Košice…zuzana.lehotska@kosice13.sk
Second round of the Second Cities project
The second round of the Second Cities project, the supporting event of the city´s application for nomination as ECOC 2013The first round of the photo project Second Cities took place in autumn 2007, and ended in a photo show presenting the European second largest cities as viewed by their citizens, professional fine art photographers. The exhibition was displayed on the advertising light boards put up in the streets of this city, at the ECOC head office premises at Hlavná Steet 59, and can still be seen at the website www.2ndcities.net. We have also released a presentable catalogue to send to photographers, galleries and cultural institutions in the cities concerned. The catalogue is also available at the ECOC head office and at Department of Culture of the Košice municipality. The project was construed to last for several years. Pavel Maria Smejkal, the project author and exhibition curator, has now invited to Košice photographers from several second largest cities in Europe to spend here approximately a week each and produce his/her own author´s picture of this city.The first participant to the photo project of Second Cities was Alnis Stakle from Daugavpils, the second largest city in Latvia. From June 23 to June 29 he was shooting the life on the Košice´s outskirts. The second and third participants, Gilles Verneret and Pierre Vallet, the French photographers from Lyon, drew inspiration from the people getting around the city centre. Urszula Tarasiewicz, the Polish photographer from Lódź, is currently busy with her photographing of Košice while tomorrow we are expecting Evžen Sobek from Brno and Daniel Hermes from Graz in Austria to arrive and take over the would-be baton. Later, they will be joined by the last participant, Mindaugas Kavaliauskas from Kaunas. The photographers are working up their topics as they like to follow up with the concept laid down by P. M. Smejkal, the project author. He will later on prepare an exhibition catalogue and an on-line presentation. The catalogue will be a supplement to the final version of the application of Košice for ECOC 2013 competition.
Workshop on the investment projects of Košice ECOC 2013 – use of rainwater in the city
Workshop on the investment projects of Košice ECOC 2013 – use of rainwater in the city Košice, a candidate for the title of European Capital of Culture (ECOC) 2013, has also included an ecological dimension of water and its use into its application project. Rainwater is in the spotlight of a two-day international workshop held on June 25-26, 2008 at the Barracks/Kulturpark in Kukučinova Street in Košice. To learn more about the workshop subject, please attend the briefing of the workshop participants at the Barracks/Kulturpark on June 26 at noon. The workshop is construed as a two-day encounter of foreign and domestic experts engaged in the environment science, urbanism and architecture, and is to end in the preparation of the underlying details of the specific project applications within the investment programmes run by the Košice´s application for nomination as ECOC 2013. The application projects include: Cultural Sites on Margin – SPOTS, BLUE PARK and BARRACKS/KULTURPARK. “The participants to the workshop will work together to find the best solution to the implementation of some eco-systems at the referred-to sites while proceeding from the conception set out by the Košice Water Protocol for 21st Century, which was approved by the City Council in 2005. The document defines frameworks of good management of water so that the rainwater could not go down the sewer system and continue to increase the risk of flood, but could improve the conditions of healthy life style right in the cities. The innovative conception has set itself the aim of preparing specific implementation of new water culture in the urban environment in order to make the best of the very idea of the Košice protocol within a short-time horizon in the real situation of the cities and their development. The international workshop will be part of the said processes and will also support the environmental line of the Košice candidacy,” said Peter Beňo, the co-author of the conception of the environmental line of the Košice ECOC 2013 project. On June 25, between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., the participants to the workshop will take a view of the Barracks/Kulturpark to see a pilot application project of the Košice Water Protocol at the KVP housing estate, they will have a look at the facility at the heat exchange station in Trieda SNP which is intended for cultural activities and they will also stop by at the future Blue Park to be located in the Anička holiday resort area. The second day of the workshop will be devoted to brainstorming and drawing specification of details of the implementation of the mentioned investment projects. Workshop topics:Rainwater management Applications in the urban environmentConception of the Blue Park Workshop participants:Michal Kravčík (NGO People and Water) Eugen Tóth (NGO People and Water) Pavol Varga (NGO People and Water)Marco Schmidt (University of Technology, Berlin)Raphael Ziegler (European College for Liberal Art, Berlin) Martin Bucholtz (University of Technology, Berlin) POAlessandro Mazzota (Poly-technical University, Torino) Jan Pokorný (ENKI, Czech Republic)Jaroslav Tesliar (Regional Development Agency, Košice) Ivan Matúšek (EKOSUR, s.r.o, Trnava)Michal Hladký (coordinator for the ECOC 2013 investment projects)Peter Beňo (co-author of the ECOC 2013 environmental line)Martin Gavlík (technical documentation of the buildings)Representative of the Office of chief Architect (invited Martin Jerguš)Representative of Listed Buildings Authority Košice (invited Radoslav Mokrýš)ECOC representative (Marek Kolarčík)Find more information with Peter Beňo, Tel.: 0904 195 889, E-mail: peter.beno@kosice13.sk
Košice signed an agreement on cooperation with Toulouse, a French candidate for the title of European Capital of Culture 2013
Košice and Toulouse, two candidates for the title of European Capital of Culture (ECOC), represented by František Knapík, the Mayor of Košice and Vincentella de Comarmond, the Deputy Mayor of the city of Toulouse in charge of culture met today in the Historic Town Hall in Hlavná Street 59 Košice to sign an agreement on mutual cooperation until 2013. The subject-matter of the cooperation refers to creation of a network of contacts between the cultural operators in Toulouse and in Košice. This agreement commits both cities to cooperate for the entire period of their preparation for nomination until 2013. Košice has already signed an agreement on cooperation under the ECOC project with Lyon, another French candidate city. After the signature, the representatives of cultural institutions from Košice and the French delegation had a discussion. “The joint projects will include a presentation of the city of Toulouse. Another interesting project is based on the invitation made for French artists to come to Košice, use their creativity and mould the shape of a heat exchange station, one of the SPOTs on the margin“, briefly commented the signature František Knapík, the Mayor of Košice. “I expect today´s discussion to make a precise definition of the genre or profile of the artist we will send to respond to the Košice´s commission. I think that besides the exchanger which will be arranged by the artist from Toulouse in his own image, another exchange project will take place soon. It will present a genre of street theatre which we are really good at“, added the Deputy Mayor of Toulouse. As expressed by Marek Kolárčik, the leader of the Košice nomination project manager, the purpose of the project is, among others, to achieve that the city´s assistance towards the costs of culture moves from the current half a percent of the city budget to the level of three percents until 2013. “We are in a completely different situation. French cities annually contribute 15 percents of their budgets for culture and they are founders of several cultural institutions in their cities,“ clarified Vincentella de Comarmond. The joint Slovak-French events include a mini-festival of Košice culture to be held at the bank of the river Garonne, a cultural event to take place in one of the caves situated in the Košice region, a street theatre or an organ festival. In 2013, one French city and one Slovak city will bear the ECOC title. The pre-selection stage was successful for four Slovak cities, namely Košice, Prešov, Martin and Nitra. In France, it was Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse. The city of Košice has devised a programme known as INTERFACE which aims to create an environment where people carry on a creative dialogue producing inspiring and innovative outcomes. Such an environment draws no line between creators and audience. All participants bar none become active component units of the INTERFACE. INTERFACE also serves as an educational environment teaching all groups of citizens to communicate with each other, with the city, region and the entire Europe. INTERFACE is also a creative environment where tradition communicates with new and innovative forms. Culture is no longer locked inside traditional institutions, but appears wherever its users and creators are. INTERFACE connects margin with the centre. This project´s ambition is to bring the marginal parts of the city to the spotlight and to make them places of encounters. Culture becomes a tool of interconnection, understanding and development. INTERFACE undergoes changes while accommodating its users in itself, and, then, in return, changes its users as well.The City of Toulouse has prepared a project entitled “Toulouse, Europe of Roads”. The project´s aim is to transform the city and its surrounding region in the ambits of art, society and community lives, and offer the citizens a new model of development. Toulouse 2013 encompasses both political and community goals when promoting links between the city and society. Culture works as a key factor of strengthening social cohesion. This project gives creative operators free hands to chisel their environs into new shape. Such a dialogue may be entered by anybody who feels like taking a think to discuss resources of the space shared. The following events have taken place in Toulouse and Košice as part of the cities´ preparation for nomination:• December 2007-March 2008: Exhibition of the East-Slovakian Museum entitled as “Treasures of Eastern Slovakia” (Gothic and Baroque art) in Jacobin cloister Ensemble Conventuel des Jacobins v Toulouse• May 2008: Exhibition of the Galérie Château d’Eau collections entitled as “Café de la Gare“ (views of French photography) as part of the French Culture Day in the East-Slovakian Gallery in Košice.The following events are planned for 2013ujatia:• “Garonne goes to sea“: A mini-festival presenting art created in Košice will be held in Toulouse and in another of the cities situated in the region along the river Garonne.• “Caves“: A cultural event will be held in the Jasov cave and in one of the caves located in the Midi-Pyrénées region.• “1000 tandems“: A cultural operator from Košice will take over direction of an event in Toulouse and vice versa.• “Organ Festival“: The organ festivals organised in Košice and in Toulouse will develop cooperation.• Féraille, an artist from Toulouse, and the Theatre Romathan, or the Puppet Theatre Košice, will prepare a street performance.As part of their planned tour, the Toulouse National Orchestra will have several concerts in Košice.• Other events related to ballet or modern art are now being prepared. Text: Zuzana Lehotská
The actor and director Peter Rašev has died
Following a long illness, the actor and director Peter Rašev died on June 12, 2008 in the Teaching Hospital of Louis Pasteur in Košice at the age of 56. He was a notable persona of Slovak theater art.In 2002, he was awarded “CENA PRIMÁTORA mesta Košice (The Mayor of Košice Award)” for his work in theater, radio, television, and film culture, and his contribution to the promotion of civic involvement. The well-known actor was involved with the project behind Košice’s candidacy to win the European Culture Capital title 2013 from its start, and he became the Project Board member in March 2007. Peter Rašev was born to a large family on August 6, 1952 in Prešov. He had seven brothers and a twin sister. He was the only one to pursue a career in art. When he finished a general secondary school, he started out as an entrant in the operetta ensemble of Divadlo Jonáša Záborského in Prešov. He graduated summa cum laude from Vysoká škola múzických umení in Bratislava as a talented student. In 1978, along with is wife Ľuba, he joined Štátne divadlo in Košice where he remained active all his life, apart from a few shorter breaks. He played many singular theater parts of world theater importance: Hamlet, Don Juan, Cyrano, etc. His musical and motion skills granted him parts in many musicals. His beautiful, unforgettable velvety voice sounded often in radio plays, dubbing, and television documentaries. In the recent years, he also created several theater plays that were staged by Staromestské divadlo of Košice. He loved acting and theater, as well as his art-focused family- wife Ľuba Blaškovičová, and daughters Kristína and Katarína.When he was diagnosed with an insidious illness, he focused on his directing work in dubbing, and received professional recognition. People of Košice knew the renowned and well-liked artist also as a tribune of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, as well as a member of parliament at the Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovak Federative Republic.A memorial service for Peter Rašev will be held at 14:30 on June 17, 2008 at the Štátne divadlo in Košice.
Michal Hvorecký: I feel like a minority
A young successful writer entered the Slovak literary arena like thunder from a clear sky in 1998 with his debut album Silný pocit čistoty (A Strong Sense of Cleanliness). He lives between Bratislava and German-speaking countries, where he claims Sándor Márai has become a literary superstar, who has become an inspiration to others.This is not your first time in Košice. What does it feel like to be here?I have gotten an impression of a colossal center of civilization today, because I had decided to come here via a route, which I had not known at all and had never used before. I set off from our old house in Staré hory, traveled via Brezno through the so-called valleys of hunger, through Dobšiná, Stratená and Medzev. When Košice suddenly appeared before me, I was happy to find myself in such metropolitan civilization.You belong to a generation that grew up with a notion of borders deeply imprinted in your consciousness. In Košice’s candidacy project European Capital of Culture, we promote the idea that political borders do not have to overlap with borders of culture. Could you see yourself supporting such an idea?Absolutely. I have experienced two regimes. I was growing up in the so-called socialism and my family could not travel practically anywhere. The fact that the borders finally opened to me, as a person and an author, substantially influenced my work and my entire career. I live in several places. I spend a lot of time in German-speaking countries, and then in my home in Bratislava. I realize the specific position of my city and the entire country, which embodies a border between the Germanic and Slavic world. Here, all historic events, even if mostly provincial, took place, or touched us in some way.Cities where we live, be it Bratislava or Košice, can be inspirational. They have their own cultural identity that had been in a great extent destructed, and destroyed. Nonetheless, it has survived to great extent, and can be still developed.Do you realize you live in a city that is only a few dozen kilometers away from the Schengen border?I am deeply aware of it, because I have many friends, and colleagues, who are Ukrainian writers. I think the situation, in which they find themselves it is not completely fair. I feel my friends in Serbia are in a similar position. In a sense, we were lucky to have ended up on the “right” side. I perceive such a division as unjust. I think we have been losing when we have shifted Ukraine to a position, which disappears from the radar of our consciousness, or when we have been portraying it with disrespect as something hermetically shut. It is a huge country and culture that we cannot ignore.How do you perceive the relationship between societal majority and minorities?If we do not insist on a strict notion of social class and ethnicity division, then creative people are in a minority, and writers too have a minority profession, which in a sense wrestles with the majority society. I myself feel more like a member of a minority. When my friends and I organized Wilsonic Festival, we were dealing with borderline culture, and it was difficult promote such ideas in this dimension. What I saw today was a piece of the world that to me, a person from Bratislava, no longer exists. It has completely disappeared from common discourse. It appears in tabloids, but it is not viewed as a living space any more. It has rather become exotica. We are confronted with a notion of a majority and a minority very often, and we sometimes try to overlook it. When it comes to Bratislava, the division there also has a financial dimension. Slogan of our candidacy urges to Use the city. You characterize yourself as a city person. Cities in your novels possess an odd quality. How should a city be used nowadays?People in Slovakia have forgotten to perceive the public space as their own. In essence, it has much to do with the forty years of dictatorships that instilled a feeling in us that the state is our enemy, and the state made it known that we, the citizens, are the enemies of the state. It affected the consciousness of a shared experience tremendously. In time of globalization, as I was growing up, life had become a lot more private, more closed up. And in its essence, we are public creatures. Communication is at the base of everything. We can communicate only in a society, or a community, and it does not matter whether it is 5 people in our hip-hop clan or 250 people in a theater. We have forgotten to comprehend consciously where we go, what places we are falling in love with, where we create our own space, and a space that belongs to a certain community. For example, the mayor of Bratislava has complained about the lines in front of one restaurant. But I can stand in a line if I want. When I am in a city space, no mayor will tell me what I should do. If we want to come together, even if it is in shopping lines to get bananas, it is simply our free choice. Power always looks for ways to explain to us that something is not a matter of free choice or not our domain.Is there a difference between using public space in Slovakia and in the countries of “Old Europe”?This part of Europe is more conscious of a solidarity notion, and they acknowledge values, which exceed the idea that they are exclusively private ones. They value individual’s contribution to growth of a community more than his/her effort to hoard for themselves. I have come across a notion of a community in America most often. People there do not view government as we do. People do not concern themselves with what takes place in Washington, unless they live there. They are involved in life of their street, or part of town – everything is based on community participation. People there perceive the strength and importance of civic initiatives much stronger.We are sitting in a city of Sándor Márai, about whom many people living in Košice know nothing. Do you have a special tie with him?I keep repeating that the world and especially Germany had discovered Sándor Márai long ago, but we have not. His works have been published in all world languages for about 15 years. He has become a true literary superstar in Germany. He is an author who has been listed in the 20th century European prose classics – that is spectacular achievement, because we must realize the rank includes only about one hundred authors. In Germany, it was Marcel Strabniczky, a Polish-German Jew, with a famous literary television show, who introduced Márai in the beginning. He kept explaining that Márai was not Hungarian, but an author from Košice in Eastern Slovakia. He is an author of central European literature, not a Hungarian one. He is a prominent author, and Košice should be a bit prouder of him.How should one speak of communism and not with the communists 20 years after its fall?I think we should communicate with the communists as well. If we do not communicate with them, Slovak parliament, government and the majority of the institutions would be done in. I am not so strict in that direction, because it is impossible in our country, but stories should be told. Our cultural dimension is unique since we have defined our identity through novelistic story telling. I would possible to start communicating this subject theme via various stories of people who lived through communism. I do not believe in a political or even legal reconciliation with past any longer. We wasted that opportunity.Košice, as the second largest city of Slovakia, searches to find common subject matters of other European cities via project called Second cities. What in your opinion, does the second largest city in Slovakia have to offer Europe?To talk of Košice as the second city seems like a very good idea to me. I would encourage you here by stating that Bratislava is provincial as well and acts as a city of more significance than it truly has. After all, it is a very little known city in Europe.People are not interested in Slovak literature any more. The world does not expect from us to discover new Central European literature that has not been known. It is interested in finding out how our experience differs from their experience of Europe, and how it will contribute to the chronicles of history, which is becoming a common space in the framework of the European Union. Every region has something specific to give in this sense. This project (Second cities) should be used for the people of the city region, so that they start to perceive their own culture too. If you achieve to draw people here from abroad who will start discovering the city and the region, as previously was the case of Graz, which became the European Capital of Culture, or Sibiu, or Linz, which were smaller than Košice but could introduce themselves singularly on the European map, it would be a significant bonus.Roman SorgerPhoto: archive M.H.Michal Hvorecký (1976) is a Slovak writer. He was born in Bratislava. He is the author of collections of short stories Strong Sense of Cleanliness (1998), Hunters & Gatherers (2001), novels The Final Hit (2003), Plush (2005), Eskorta (2007), and a medley of short texts Pastiersky list (2008). His works have been translated into German, Italian, Polish and Czech. He wrote a play “Slovenský inštitút. Jedna komédia”. The novel Plush has been dramatized and performed in Divadlo Aréna in Bratislava and Schauspielhaus Hannover. Every year, he attends the Wilsonic Festival, which he co-founded with a DJ Tibor Holoda in 2000.Source: www.hvorecky.com
Košice and Prešov declared interest in cooperation upon winning the ECOC 2013 title
Prešov June 4, 2008 – On Wednesday, June 4, 2008 the Mayors of Košice and Prešov signed Memorandum on Mutual Understanding and Future Cooperation in preparation of the European Capital of Culture 2013 event (ECOC 2013). In case either city wins the ECOC 2013 title the organisers of the event undertake to cooperate upon the implementation of the project for the benefit of the entire Košice and Prešov region. The future cooperation will cover the preparation period 2009 through 2012 and the subsequent year 2013.Košice and Prešov thereby expressed their will to cooperate on joint projects concerning the following subjects: conurbation Košice–Prešov, minorities in the region of the eastern Slovakia, culture of marginalised groups (esp. Roma), ecumene, Eastern and Western cultures, Andy Warhol, new water culture. The fields of cooperation also include amateur art projects, professional art projects, local television projects and various educational projects. “The signature of the Memorandum constitutes another dimension of our cooperation with Prešov situated in the vicinity of Košice. I believe that plenty of programme items will arise from this collaboration to enrich the cultural life in both cities and to extend the conception of both cities´ applications for the ECOC 2013 title,” said František Knapík, the Mayor of Košice.
World-known Sándor Márai and his Košice
WANDERINGS AROUND KOŠICE THIS WEEKEND If you intend to learn about living in Košice 100 years ago served in a literary fashion, choose and read Zpověď [Confession], the book by Sándor Márai.Sándor Márai (1900–1989), now already a world-known writer, was born in a house, which does not exist any longer. The shopping centre Dargov was erected is the place where the house used to be situated. For some of his teenage years Sándor Márai lived in the house at No. 35 in the Mäsiarska Street. He attended Premonstratesian secondary schools in Košice, Prešov and Budapest. He did not complete university in Budapest so he kept studying on and on in Prague, Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris to end up in America. After coming of age, he would only return to Košice on vacations. Beside Hungarian, his mother tongue, he could speak German and French very well and English and Italian as necessary. After the Munich Agreement, he turned up in Košice once more and spent three days here looking for answers to his numerous questions. His discoveries are available to learn through the Wanderings around Košice. After the WWII, it was becoming obvious to Márai that he and communism would never make friends. The wiser gives in, they say, so Márai left the country. Before he took his own life he had lived in exile for 40 years. The occupation of Hungary by the Soviet army made him so much upset that he put a ban on publishing his books and dramatic pieces in Hungarian (even at the cost of his financial loss), until the Soviet troops would return where they had come from. Therefore, many people in this country have not even heard about Sándor Márai. By contrast, his works have been in great favour outside this country, enjoying many translations and film adaptations. Ten years ago, during the 1998 Days of Košice celebration, Dr. János Jáky, Márai´s full nephew came from Budapest to raise Sándor Márai´s profile. At that time they opened Márai´s Memorial Room at the house in the Mäsiarska Street where Márai lived as a child. After having visited the Room you realise that Márai managed to breathe both pain and love into his books for he had good times and saw bad times and yet did not live long enough to see some other things. He (by a hair) did not manage to see the end of communism in Hungary and else where nor the departure of the Soviet occupants. He survived bombing of his house in Budapest (a piece of his original globe hit by a bomb can also be seen in the Mäsiarska museum). He managed with the unfavourable attitude of his future parents-in-law to his love for their Jewish daughter. He also managed without their son who died at the age of two months. Márai, by the way, married his fiancée so that they presented her parents with a fait accompli, and then lived together for 60 years. When, by a stroke of fate, he lost during four of his elderly years his wife, his stepson and three siblings he took up shooting classes as he did not want to spoil his own suicide. His books have survived him though. You can run into an inter(attr)active full-sized sculpture of Sándor Márai installed in the Zbrojničná Street in Košice in 2004. Opposite the seated writer another part of the sculpture is placed – a vacant chair attracting the passers-by to take a seat, not only for the absence of other seats within sight. Much as they have Antoin de Saint-Exupéry Airport in Lyon, why not name the Košice airport, at least, after the most famous and best-educated 20th century Hungarian writer? After all, the world-renowned writer was born in Košice and even wrote about Košice. Given that his books have been translated into more than 40 languages and he raised the profile of this town more than any other natives of Košice. For all that we should be grateful to him and learn interesting things about him, e.g. in the next wandering around Košice. We will go back in time and enter his house where this literary genius spent his childhood 100 years ago. Košice is the only place where you can take the advantage of reading some timeless quotations from Márai´s books at the very places which he wrote about.(The latest book on Márai, released by the City of Košice, is available to obtain at the wandering. Márai´s Studio in the Timonova Street is playing the latest Hungarian film on Márai´s life in exile, with the English subtitles and Slovak scripted translation, on Sunday and Monday, at 6:30 p.m.)Wandering around Košice is an hour-long conducted tour of Košice organised by the City Information Centre Košice every first weekend in the month. Every tour has a different subject to discuss and a different round to follow. The tour starts outside the State Special Library at No 8. Hlavná Street. Next subject: Sándor Márai and (his) Košice, (this weekend, June 7–8). Saturday tours begins at 10:00, 10:30, 11:30, 13:30, 15:00, 16:30 (Slovak), 14:00 (Hungarian), 16:30 (English and Slovak.)Sunday tours begin at 14:00, 14:30, 15:30, 17:00 (Slovak), 16:00 (Hungarian.)Information and booking is available at the offices of the City Information Centre at Shopping Centre Dargov, Department Store TESCO and Bus Station. Tel.: 055-16 186, www.potulka.skOther subjects:Secrets of Alžbetina Street (June 28-29) – attended by Pavel Dvořák, historianGhosts and Legends of Košice (August 2-3)State Theatre (September 6-7)
INTERVIEW – M. Jirous and P. Placák
M. Jirous: If the communists had remained in power for 20 more years, it is now all over for Košice …They both have had plenty of experience with the communist regime. As before 1989 also now they both call things by their proper names. They´re both saying it is now even more important that people know what was going on then. “The more we know the better we can kick against all those populistic, nationalistic and ´red´ methods of the commies in the past. ´Cause they still have their followers trying to use these methods now”, said Ivan Martin Jirous (64) and Petr Placák (44), the interviewed Czech samizdat writers who are, despite of a 20-year age difference between them, on the same wavelength. Is this your first visit to Košice? Petr Placák: No. I have already been here before. I showed up on several occasions under the communists. We had friends in Košice among the independent artistic circles. They kept in touch with the Prague scene. So we were travelling to Košice and they would come to see us to Prague. Martin Jirous: This is my first time in Košice. You lived at the times when borders were often discussed. Now you are living in a city not even a hundred kilometres away from Schengen. How do you feel about that? And how do you feel about the whole concept of borders?Petr Placák: This is one of the best things that have happened after 1989 – dissolving of borders. It´s now quite hard to image what a nasty feeling it was to be living behind a barbed wire without permission to go no other place. Not even young people who wanted to see a lot, have some nice moments, you know. The only outland allowed to see was Slovakia. So I know Slovakia better than the Czech land. The fact that now I can get around the area from Košice to Lisbon without having to stop and show my passport to any twerp with a flat cap on is just fantastic.Martin Jirous: I take it differently. It´s all the same to me: with or without borders. I still find myself Czechoslovak. The split of Czechoslovakia was a tragedy to me. So it makes no difference now ´cause were all in the European Union, even though I myself am no friend of the EU. I feel myself at home in Czechoslovakia, I don´t take notice of any other borders.Our project advocates the idea that political borders are not cultural borders of Europe. Would you stand up for such an idea?Petr Placák: Definitely. Political borders are always pre-fabricated while artistic borders emerge naturally. Martin Jirous: This is for sure Central Europe, while Ukraine is not Central Europe although my feelings about Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian writers are nothing but positive. You drew up the initiative known as No Speaking with Communists. How can we not speak with the communists, yet speak about the communism? Petr Placák: We can be absolutely open and free of emotions and portray the era so that the people know what was going on then. The mechanisms that regime was using can be used again by someone else in the future. The more we know the better we can kick against all those populistic, nationalistic and ´red´ methods of the commies in the past. ´Cause they still have their followers trying to use these methods now. Young generation in the Czech Republic hardly follows anything about that time. I put out the magazine Babylon where we regularly do so-called oral history. We question personal observers of the communism who had a trying time and we present them in the Babylon. The magazine is distributed at universities so that the students could learn the whole story. Martin Jirous: I can do nothing about this. This is up to the parents to handle. It is now already the fourth generation of communists growing up in the families that would shut up and keep going. They were party-liners even if they didn´t believe the ideology ´cause they were either profit–seeking or sheer cowards. Those never explained to their kids what the world about them was about. So what do we want from such kids now? My parents would always tell me where I lived. They would always call a spade a spade. So if some ´greens´ are now waving red flags in the public squares again, we should blame their parents. The kids learn nothing at school. The curriculum sucks, there is practically no history. They teach kids just perverted things like management and how to get involved in this global system. So no wonder the youngsters are half-assed. And it is not just their parents´ fault. It is also their grand-parents´ fault. They had not either taught their offspring to be honest. Anyway, I believe there is always a certain rate of people who take interest in culture. Seven, maybe eight percent of young people are interested in cultural values. It´s just more difficult for them today than it was for us to get hold of the values and live up to them. Underground could also be classified among the marginalised group of the then society. What do you think of the value of marginalised groups for the society?Petr Placák: There are numbers of marginalised groups, and I am pretty clear in my mind about their subsistence in society. The attitude of society to marginalised groups shows if the society is free or not. This not only points to its democratic establishment, but also the inner freedom of the society. Marginalised groups are a signature of free society. Where the mainstream majority cannot run a dialogue with minorities, it is always a sign of a future failure of such society. What do you think Košice can offer Europe under the European capital of Culture project?Petr Placák: I can still feel the same multicultural phenomenon which Sándor Márai depicted in his novels. My friend Andrej Stankovič from the east of Slovakia is a nice and evident example to give: he carried about 15 different nationalities – Jewish, Hungarian, Slovak, and others. There is just this sense of cultural diversity here. And this single European culture of the same, common Antic and Jewish foundations is present all around here and is easier to notice here than, say, in Bratislava where the culture seems to be too Slovak in nature. Martin Jirous: I like it very much here: the city centre with all those intact buildings not yet pulled down, but a few exceptions, those beautiful houses built in Art Nouveau and late-Empire styles, let alone Cathedral, which is tremendous on its own. I am very much glad to finally see it in my own eyes. So far, I have only known the Cathedral from postcards and book illustrations. Bratislava got into the Bolsheviks´ spotlight and they consequently ruined it. So the city´s genius loci was killed off. But Košice makes me feel that the former genius is still here and you can feel it. I am sure that if the communists had remained in power for 20 more years, it is now all over for Košice … I think Košice can offer Europe what has preserved of the bourgeois town. This is a nice town dripping with something cosy. Roman SorgerPetr Placák (1964) – Czech writer, lyricist, historian and publicist first used the pseudonym Petr Zmrzlík to publish his works. Being a skilled mechanic he has had several working class jobs. In 1985, he was accepted to the Czech University of Technology. For political reasons, he was not allowed to study though. He was among the key figures of the Czech literary underground publishing in samizdat, organising anti-communist demonstrations. After November 1989, he worked at Nezávislé tlačové stredisko [Independent Press Centre], later at the periodicals Respekt [Respect], Necenzurované noviny [Non-censored Press], Český deník [Czech Daily], Český týdeník [Czech Weekly] and Lidové noviny [People´s Press]. Since 1995 he has been the editor-in-chief of the student´s political and cultural monthly Babylon and since 2001 he has been the editor-in-chief of the publishing house of the same name. In 1992-2000, he also studied history at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Prague. In 1990 through 1992, he was among the management of the royalist Koruna česká [Czech Crown]. He drew up the petition known as No Speaking with Communists and among the main organisers of the activities accompanying the petition. His début prose Medorek released in samizdat in 1985 was first published in 1990 by Lidové noviny Publishing. The work won the Jiří Orten Prize. Using the pseudonym Petr Zmrzlík he issued a book of poetry entitled Obrovský zasněžený hřbitov [Giant Graveyard Covered in Snow] in 1987. He lives in Prague. Ivan Martin Jirous (1944) – Czech poet, publicist, artists, reviewer, distinguished representative of the underground known as ´Magor´ [Nuts]. He studied Art History at Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Prague. He published his poems in periodicals, such as Sešity [Booklets] or Mladá tvorba [Young (Literary) Production]. As early as in the 1960´s, he became close with the underground band Plastic People of the Universe where he acted as an art director for years. For his disfavour for the communist regime he could not carry on literary activity. He changed jobs working as e.g. a night watchman and gardener. For his beliefs he got imprisoned for several times. He spent eight years in prison altogether. He is a signatory of Charter 77. In 1979, he was among the founders of the samizdat edition Vokno [Window]. Even after the breakdown of communism Jirous contravened the law, often for his disorderly conduct. He is referred to as a bullyboy and habitual drinker. He lives in Vysočina. Resource: www.cs.wikipedia.org
Lithuanian Kaunas – passionate admirer of Košice´s application
Košice received six visitors from Kaunas representing the second largest city in Lithuania. The Lithuanian delegation visited the Barracks/Kulturpark in the Kukučínova Street and attended a project presentation of the city´s application for nomination as ECOC 2013. They were swept off their feet. “I am very much impressed with the project. I like to provide Košice municipality with some contacts to approach cultural institutions and associations in Kaunas. I really like the idea of heat exchangers and making the Kulturpark at the barracks facilities,“ said Stepos Vaicikauskas, Deputy Mayor of Kaunas at the close of the presentation. The supporting activities of the city´s application also include the Second Cities project. Two photographers from Kaunas took part in this project last year. Learn more about the project at www.2ndcities.net“The representatives of Kaunas showed interest in getting involved in our application project for nomination as European Capital of Culture and would like to take part in the artist-in-residency and exchange projects,“ added Alena Vachnová from the host team of Košice. The city of Kaunas is known for its 1,621 m long Main Street, which is declared a non-smoking zone. Near the city is the largest water power station in the country generating 80 % of electricity in Lithuania. As well as historical landmarks, there are plenty of unconventional museums in the city: the museum of devils, ceramics, history of communication, the museum for the blinds, museum of the exiles and political prisoners, and others. Traditional cultural events include Jazz Festival, Pažaislis Music Festival, Day of Kaunas, International Youth Festival of Music, International Grand Piano Ensembles Festival, Cantate Domino – International Festival of Sacral Music, traditional festival of provincial bands and Operetta at the Kaunas Castle appearing now on a periodical basis. Kaunas will be heard of a lot in 2011 in relation to the European Men´s Basketball Championship. On this occasion the city plans to build a universal sports arena for 12,000 visitors for EUR 29m. Text: Zuzana Lehotská Photo: Jana Vargová